My gut reaction was one of revulsion. The idea of a holy nun screaming and hunching around like a teenager in the clutches of some inchoate passion was hard to wrap my head around. My second reaction was to wonder if she was really a nun or if that was just a schtick.

I don't consider myself a good Catholic or a prude, so there's a lot to unpack in that response, I suppose. But I'm not sure how the Screaming Nun performance is reflective of a holy calling or might help point the way to heaven for anybody.

I have no opinion on whether it's right for a nun to do something like this, but I would point out that the typical response seems always to be one of infantilization: the cute (asexual) nun in bad shoes singing a pop song.

I do not have a problem as long as it is not done for vainglory (although hard to see how it might not be given the show) and any proceeds go to the poor and needy.

Hmmm. If Sister wants to help the poor and needy by making a spectacle of herself, she should have joined the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, an organization in which nobody's going to mistake her for a real nun. I know they've offended people on here before, but they give away a lot of money to arts, health, and children's programs. See their grant list here: http://www.thesisters.org/index.php/grants

This article from the Guardian claims that the Vatican's culture minister, the once papabile, Cdl Ravassi approves http://bit.ly/1h24MCu It also notes that she believes she recevied her vocation playing a nun in a play.

She is probably reaching Italian youth, which the Church has not been abte to reach. What is rthe harm?

Alan, I don't know that there's any harm. I just find the performance off-putting and undignified. And, having been a teacher for 30 years, I can tell you that most students would find that peformance endless fodder for mocking and hilarity. If that's her attempt to "reach" them, well, I'll be real surprised if it works.

Well, If Fr. Z is willing to cut Sister some slack, who am I to judge?

Jean, I taught high school students for 14 years (until recently) and I am pretty convinced that they would make a mockery of this sister's act. Although I must say, the chorus at the high school used to sing the "Salve Regina" from "Sister Act" with great enthusiasm.

Helen, the difference is that if the students are doing it together, it's cool, right? A good teacher facilitates their enthusiasm and encourages their teamwork. A bad teacher sucks the enthusiasm out of them by showing off. Sister's emoting struck me as an example of the latter. So that's why I don't buy the idea that she's going to reach a bunch of kids with this angle, if that's her aim.

Moreover, as Catholics, don't we promote the idea of proclamation, rather than performance, through our readings and singing? I'd argue that Sister is doing more entertainment (arguably speaking) than evangelization.

I was in a big youth meeting last year where I saw some bishops awkwardly trying to move in sync with the music, to fit in with the electric atmosphere even though it went against their natural tendency. I thought it looked painfully ridiculous. The adults who were with the youth had been advised to also join in the choreographies, yelling, etc. I flatly refused and receded to the back whenever a choreography started. But the sister in this video is obviously enjoying herself, and I don't see why she shouldn't. As long as the rest of us are not pressured to do it against our will, I don't have any objection.

I once suggested, when I was teaching teenagers a hymn about dancing with joy, that we make the attitude match the words and enter the church dancing. They were absolutely aghast at the idea. There is a sense in which they want to fit in and refuse to consider any action that would make them stand out, be it reading from the lectionary, singing when people around them are feebly mumbling, or dancing. They're inhibited by conformism from doing things that some of them would enjoy.

It's what Sister's joyful about that I don't get. God? Singing on TV? Alicia Keyes? Making nuns seem hip and now?

We've got a hip young priest priest in our diocese who puts pictures of himself with his many guns on Facebook. He certainly looks joyful as he's holding his favorite firearms in his clerical collar. I guess he'll bring in the Second Amendment crowd, but I find his gun love kind of weird.

I better stop now, though, before I say, "What's the world coming to?" Ooops. I guess I just did.

I supect that if David took his harp and sang and danced before the Tabernacle there would be people who would doubt his sincerity, I bet that he too had some moves, as they say, and whooped it up:-) Loud!